English Christmas Trifle

Trifle is a classic English dessert, with layers of pound cake, custard, fresh fruit, and whipped cream. This holiday trifle uses raspberries and poached pears, making it as delicious as it is beautiful. (This post was originally published exactly 5 years ago today, on December 6th, 2012!)

Poached Pear and Raspberry Trifle with Almond Pound cake.

I have warm memories of Christmases spent in England. We’d drive up from London for a few days to my friend’s family home in North Yorkshire. The dining room in the “house” was large enough to hold one long table which sat 24 family members and one, far-from home Expat-Californian. Mr. R. as the host, wore a smoking jacket and “slippers“, while all the other men wore dinner jackets with fancy waistcoats. We women wore gowns. Christmas dinner was definitely a black tie affair. (Disclosure; this post contains affiliate links)

In addition to the Plum Pudding brought to the table soaked in alcohol and set afire, there was an English Christmas Trifle.

Ever since then, Christmas really isn’t Christmas without it. I had only ever made it with Bird’s English Custard and Sara Lee Pound cake. Bird’s is similar to Creme Anglaise, (“English Cream”) in the powdered form, and while not as fresh tasting and yummy as from scratch, Bird’s is a classic British ingredient and far easier.

Bird’s can be found at most grocery stores or here on Amazon. Last year, Mom set the dessert bar even higher when she adapted Emeril Lagasse’s Poached Pear and Raspberry Trifle. Mom made a few changes. Instead of using a store bought pound cake, she made an Almond Pound Cake, (my favorite flavor!) sprinkled the cake with a combination of Amaretto (more almond flavor!) and Marsala. For step-by-step photos on how to poach pears, click here. While you can make trifle in a large bowl, to make it a real show-stopper, use a glass trifle bowl like this one.

Want to simplify this trifle recipe?

Use store-bought pound cake, Bird’s custard powder, and canned pears packed in their own juice. From there, you’ll just need to assemble the trifle!

To make the creme anglaise, in a small saucepan, bring 2 cups cream to a bare boil with vanilla bean, and scraped seeds over medium heat. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks and 1/2 cup granulated sugar until ribbons form. Gradually add 1 cup of the warm cream, and mix well. Add back to the pot with the remaining cream and stirring constantly cook over medium heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer, discarding the vanilla bean. Press a piece of plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, whip the remaining 2 cups cream with the confectioner's sugar.

To assemble the trifle cut the cake into 1/2-inch thick slices to fit tightly into the bottom of a trifle bowl (or a 1 1/2-quart decorative glass bowl), and slightly up the sides about 1-inch.

Drizzle or sprinkle the cake with Marsala and Amaretto. In a mixing bowl toss the berries with 2 tablespoons Marsala, stirring to bruise the berries slightly. Layer 1/3 of the pears over the top of the cake, then top with 1/3 of the creme anglaise, (or prepared Bird's Custard) followed by 1/3 of the raspberries. Repeat the process, layering the remaining ingredients, finishing with the freshly whipped cream on top.

This Almond Pound Cake recipe makes one 10" (angel food cake pan size). This can also be made in two loaf pans. For the trifle recipe, you will need about 1/2 recipe, or the equivalent of a 12 ounce loaf.

To poach the pears, in a medium saucepan, combine the water, honey, seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean and vanilla bean. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring, until the honey dissolves. Add the pear halves, reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the pears are tender when pierced with a sharp knife, about 12 minutes. Transfer the pears with a slotted spoon to a cutting board and let cool slightly. Cut into thin slices.

Hi Michelle, It does serve a lot! 16-20. That’s why we make it only at Christmas when we’re having a big group. We usually have 14-16 people, but serve TWO different desserts so there’s always plenty leftover as well.

Oh my, this looks beautiful, I am British and just want to dive right into this, yummy. The almond pound cake sounds amazing, I love that taste so much, thanks for sharing such a favorite classic with a twist 🙂

Cynthia, your trifle is just gorgeous and I love the poached pear and raspberry combo. Thanks so much for sharing at The Weekend Social. Always love seeing you here. Please come back again Thursday 9:00 PM EST. http://www.theKitchenChopper.com Pinned, Heart’d and YUM’d!

This is an absolute showstopper of a trifle, Cynthia! I completely understand using Bird’s custard and also do so myself as it reminds me of the trifles from home, but obviously homemade is best! Your mother’s trifle is absolutely awesome! She can come make one at my house anytime!

I’m English and trifle is usually eaten on Boxing Day in my family. I’ve never heard of anyone adding honey (sacrilege!), but your trifle pic is fabulous and
must be pinned! Thank you…and merry Christmas.

Vivienne, this is an Emeril Lagasse recipe, so it’s his twist on trifle. The poaching liquid can most certainly have sugar instead of honey. When I lived there, there were so many different versions of trifle, but I find that the Bird’s and jelly (our Jello-0) versions aren’t nearly as nice tasting as this one.

Superb!
However, I used a tad of Cinnamon and some Cloves in the poaching syrup, brought it to a boil, added a smidgen of apple brandy to the liquid, and a minute or2 later, added the pears. Layers of flavor. My guests swooned.

I usually make the cake in advance. You can make the custard and poach the pears ahead of time. When all that is done, it’s just a matter of whipping the cream and assembling. If you make the custard ahead of time, make sure you put a layer of cling wrap on top so it won’t get a skin. We usually make the trifle in the morning for a late afternoon/early evening Christmas dinner. Actually, you want the cake to get soggy, the liqueur will soak in the cake and everything sort of melds together.

This sounds delicious! And those formal Christmas parties just sound like so much fun. I love a good excuse to dress up and act fancy from time to time (gets me out of my pjs). As much as I love all the ingredients in a trifle, I’ve never actually made one. I might need to break down and make one this year!

I think it depends on on many you’re having. This is perfect for a big crowd, but if you’re having 8 or so, you could make mini trifles and serve them in champagne glasses. In which case, I’d make a 1/2 batch of custard, buy a pound cake, and puree some frozen raspberries, dice a poached pear or two up and just make it on a smaller scale.

Hi Carmen,
I can see how it’s confusing. There are so many components to this recipe. I’ve separated the poached pear recipe from the custard/assembly part. I also clarified which types of sugar. So yes, the 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar is what we use for the whipped cream. You’ll find that the confectioner’s sugar will give the whipped cream a bit more stability, with all the layers. Hope that helps! Cynthia

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[…] (the straight stuff too) Yorkshire pudding, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, finished off with an English Trifle. Then one Boxing Day, I decided I didn’t think I could eat beef again. (I’ve since […]

[…] I found this English Christmas Trifle at what a girl eats. Good blog. But I think if you eat too much, you may become too fat. But it is too yummy and I am sure this will make your christmas more merry and sweet. You can find the recipe and step by step instructions at whatagirleats.com […]

[…] I found this English Christmas Trifle at what a girl eats. Good blog. But I think if you eat too much, you may become too fat. But it is too yummy and I am sure this will make your christmas more merry and sweet. You can find the recipe and step by step instructions at whatagirleats.com […]